Voice device



Sept. 4, 1928. 1,682,962

L. G. HANDY VOICE DEVICE Filed Dec. 24,` 1924 /s/ L irl /5 l Patented Sept. 4, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEVIN GESSEORD HANDY, OF MOUNTAIN VEW, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MSNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO VOICES INCOR'LORATED, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A COR- PORATION OF DELAWARE.

VOICE DEVCE.

Application filed December 24, 1924. Serial No. v757,845.

This invention relates to a voice device and particularly to a device intended for production of words such as ma-ma and the like. the customary use of the device being within the body of dolls and in similar locations, the device beingr arranged so that when the doll is moved from one position, say an upright position, to another, say a reclining position, the device will operate to produce the desired Word.

lt is now common practice to manufacture devices of this general type to include a suitably weighted bellows adapted to move from a distended to a collapsed position by gravity r so as Lto expel the contained air through a rupting and controlling the sounding of the reed.

A more detailed object is to so construct and arrange the parts which control the sounding of the reed as to cause a certain inflection of the sound waves and thereby render the emitted sounds more pleasing, natural, and attractive.

A further object is to' provide a sounding device of the type rindicated and in which the emitted soun ds will vary within desirable limits at each operation, that is one in which the cry of ma-ma or the like will have a desirably different intlection for each cry.

A further object is to so construct the device that it may operate equally well whether embodying a tight friction type of bellows'or a bellows of the liexible membrane type.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less speciiic than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations.r arrangements of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention, and the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

ln the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of en'ibodiment of the invention Fig. l is a vertical central sectional View through a voice device constructedin accord-- ance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially upon the plane of line IIe-II of Fig. 1.

Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are diagrammatic views corresponding with the disclosure in'Fig. l but illustrating the relative positions of moving parts at different stages of a single operation of the device.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view similar to the views in Figs. 3, l, and 5 but illustrating an auxiliary arrangement which may be employed for determining the inflection of emitted sounds. v

, Fig. 7 is a further diagrammatic view but illustrating the use of a continuous central post for supporting and Vguiding the moving parts, `and 8 is a further diagrammatic view illustrating aV modified arrangement of the movingparts in combination with a central guiding post.'

Fig. 9 isa further modification. Referring to the drawings for describing in detail the structures there-in shown the reference character L indicates a suitable casing. This may be of the usual or any suitable construction adapted to contain the moving parts of the mechanism. In the instance illustrated vit is shown to consist of cylindrical side walls 1 and top andbottom walls 2 and 3. f i

Within this casing is arrangedL a movable head or piston G adapted toslide longitudinally of the casing for cooperating therewith as a bellows to expel air through a reed or other sounding device as 4 carried preferablyby the head G. It vmay have suitablytightfrictional engagement with the walls 1 or it may be provided with a flexible tubular membrane or bellows member 5 for insuring proper bellows action to displace air when the head slides toward the end wall 3.

The head G is of suilicient weight so that it operates by gravity to distend and collapse the bellows whenever the casingis moved from an upright to an inverted position, and vice versa, and it thus automatically produces sounding of the reed 4 bythe exhausting air from within the bellows.V

Within the head G is formed an appropriate sound box 6 with which the reed communicates. A' suitable opening as7' is provided in this sound boX through which sound waves from the reed and `sound box way to the outer atn'ios` must pass on the phere. Y The top wall as 2 of the casing is suitably perforated as at 8MS in order that the soundwaves may pass freely out of the casino. i f

2FFO control the passage of the sound waves outwardly through the opening- -7 of thesound box and to thereby determine lthe o3- "erationeof' the reed `and :the inflections of t e passingsound waves the r present invention l proposes` theV use .of a .single separately formed valveA member H mounted to move to and fro through the opening 7 during the f operation of 4the bellows. In the illustral tions Figs. 1 to 6 `thisvalve member is slid` ably supported upon a guide pin `9: connected to and dependingifrom' the top 4wall 2 of the.

casing and having a shoulder or head as l0- at its lower end to prevent vdisconnection :of

the valve. v

In the modiiicaiinfirig. 7 ai@ valve n` is slidablyv supported'upon la central post 11 which servesalso to slidably supportthe j headGr,` -a suitablewshoulder as. l2 being A to the upper end of-a separate stem' as T131 formed upon the Apost to limit the` sliding movementof thevalve. In the modification Fig. 8 the valve is'fiXed which projects slidably downwardly Vthrough the head and liasitsflower-end as V14: -arranged to engage against the upper surface of the bottom wall 3 of thefoasing'rto limit the downward movement ofrthe valve.. 'A

head as 15; is formed at the lower end of the stemxl soV asv to' prevent its displacement from the head Gat. any time. i

' Aligned with Lthe opening 7 --the head G- is provided with a dash-pot 16 directly below saidy opening and of a size to receiveV the valve H whenv said valve `slides down the stem 9,'the relation ofthe Vvalveito the dashpot being such asto retard the falling movement of the` valve and to properly time said movement in proportion to the movement of the head andV prevent` the valve `from moving entirely through, the opening 7 prematurely. :.'By the same` means also; the

valve isvprevented from falling with a metallic crash against the material of the head; i' andotlier ends are attained as will be presently pointed fout. i Q -y y The operation of the device `as thus far described will `be understood. from' the 'drawings Figs. 1, 3, A1-andi) asfollows,it being Y funderstood that the position -of all of the parts as illustrated in Fig. lfisjthe position in which-said parts will stand when'the` de vice `is first brought to an' upright position after having been'held inan invertedposi# tion. I ,f

y'lflie weighted head G will begin toydescend and the displaced air from beneath it will cause sounding of the reed 4, the sound waves passing into the soundbox Gand issuing therefrom in a. suitably subdued manf nerl through the opening7, it being noted that at this time the valve H fis standing the opening of just tlierightsize to produce the desired` result,` that is the momentary .purring sound `mm preceding thesyllable ina ofl the word ma-ma.

within said openingand .that Athe valve isl sufficiently smaller than said openingfso as Y to leave a crevice as 17 between itself and The lvalve H will `at the same time begin toA slide down the pin 9u Except for the presence otthedash-pot 1V the valvewould Y fall-almost 'instantly throughthe openiner 7 it beingnoted thatthe fall of thev head Gr carrying said opening 7 is relativelyfslow owing tothe requirement for displacing air from within the bellows, while the valve H dash-pot 16 however operates` to support the valve to the il esired `extent for maintaining it lwithin the opening 7 for an appropriate period. i y 4 As the partel continue to descend and the valve ,finally fallsfree of theopening 7, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the sound waves nonr pass freely i'rom'ithe sound box outwardly through said opening and produce the main portion y of Vthe syllable ma.

has -not this pressure to contend with.`` The It is to be Ynoted that during at least part oi? the aboveperiod the weight of thevalve isin varying degrees added to the weightfor` the head to increase the gravitypull ofthe i head, being least complete when firstbeginning,T to feel the lifting'forceof the dash-pot, and being fully complete when resting in the bottom of the dash-potjust before engaging the head l0. Axslight but desirable' inflection of rthe souudwaves at Vdifferentmomentary periods isthusproduced, and thisiwill vary to'some extent-at least in eachope'raf tion of the device..V i i Asthe parts continue lfurther to; descend the valve `I-Iromes lto rest upon vthe head or fw shoulder lOwhereupon the ycontinued downi Vward movement of the head G will cause Athe valvetoY be relativelyli'fted again into i the opening, as indicated inFig. 4.

i The first syllable of the word fina-miireduced .just priorfto .the termination of the f first s yllable ma with the result that the syllable was ended smoothly and merged gradually into the purring of mm period with a desirable inflection of the sound waves.

The second or intermediate puri-ing mm period will continue until the valve has passed again through the opening, that is until the opening 7 has fallen entirely free of the valve or to the position indicated in Fig. 5. As the dash-pot 1G fell free of the valve and the rctarding force of the daslpot was thus relieved, the head (l suddenly again resumed its former speed of descent and there was crea-ted for the 'moment an excess of air pressure through the reed. This occurred at a moment when the valve stood directly within the opening` 7 with the result that the purring or mm`sound then issuing from the device was momentarily accentuated and thereby given a desirable and natural inflection, closely approXimr-ting the aspirated cry of an infant.

The second or final syllable of the word ma-ma will begin just as the opening 7 passes below the lower cdgefof the valve and will continue so long` as air continues to move through the reed, that vis until the head G comes to rest for instance by striking against the bottom wall 3 of the casing. rihe volume of sonne during the pronunciation of this syllable will depend upon the freedom with which the air will pass through the opening 7, and it is a feature of the present invention to provide means for altering the size of the free passage at different stages of descent of the head. An arrangement for accomplishing this result is diagrain1natically illustrated in Fig. 6 in which it will be. seen that the lower end of the valve ll is shaped to provide a relatively deep recess as 18 immediately below the main portion of the valve, and a relatively raised portion as 19 below said recess, and a gradual inclining` or tapered portion as 20 below said portion 19. As theseparts pass successively through the opening` 7 the available free passage for the outflowing air will be altered, and the volume of sound proto produce a pronunciation of the s. i l ble ma which varies in volume anc fore more closely approximates the na ery of an infant.

In the nodication Fig. 9 is illustrated a different means for improving the inflexion of the nal syllable, the arrangement shawn in this figure being designed furthern'iore to cause the inflexion to be different in different operations of the device. In this modification the main valve H is provided with a plurality of supplementary valve members as 2l and 22 telescoped into the lower end of the valve H and adapted to move freely both longitudinally and rotatably within wand and the outer underl box.

said valve H. The val ve members 2l and 22 consist of small cylinders of slieet metal or other suitable'inaterial and each is formed with a plurality of openings as Q3 radially therethrough. These openings are of Vdifferent sizes and proportions and are so ar-k ranged that they will overlap -eaeh other in different relations according to the rotary positions in which the valve members stand atr ldifferent times.

During the normal use of the device the act of moving the evice from an invertec to an upright position and vice versa7 as well as other and more erratic movements to which the device is subjected in use,-the valve members 21 and 22 will rotate relative to each other to a greater or lesser eX- tent and thus bring into register the open ings 23H23 in different relationships so that the aggregate amount of open space present within the opening 7 of the head for accomn inodating free passage of air outwardly through said opening 7 will vary in successive operations of the device.

As illustrated in l, the head G when used'as a sliding piston type of bellows,V

may be provided with a gasket member as thereon for engaging against the inner cylindrical surface of. the side walls l and thus render it unnecessary for the head itH self to have a too tight engagement with said wall surface. The gasket member 24: consists of an annular band of suitable inaterial such as thin leather, or a properly treated fabric. llt is fitted into an annular groove 25 formed in the head and is held tightly within said groove by means of a binding strip or wire 26 at its upper annular edge, the yarrangenient being such that the entire lower annular portionv of the gasket strip is left free andv of such circumference as to afford a suitably tight frictional engagement against the casing walls.V

A suitable annular space as 27 is afforded between the inner surface of the gasket ing surface of the heady so thatair from. within the bellows n'iay move `int-o said sgiace and act to urge the gasket band outwardly whenever the head G is descending.

Also, as illustrated most clearly in Fig. l, the head G is formed as a single integral casting with the sound boi; 6 provided therevin and the opening 7 and dash-pot 16 being at opposite sides above and below the sound By forming the head in t is manner7 instead of using ay separately formed top wall member for. the upper side of the sound box is now a common practice, the opening 7 may readily be formed in accurate axial alignment ywith the dash-pot and thus insure a proper cooperative fit of the valve H at all times in moving from one of said elements to the other.

Also shown in l is a small washer -as 28 placed in position to. silence the im-V pact of the valve H in its movements toward `the top Vwall 2 of the casing.

lVith regard to the illustration Fig. 8 it should be noted that although this figure illustrates the uscof a central guiding post l1 it will be understood that such a post may be used as a support and guidefor they head (fi or it may be omittedand. said head G be supported and guided. by its slidingk In all of the structures described the -co operativefaction oftlie singlevalve member `and its dash-potter controlling the articu` lation ofsou'nd issubstantially the same in each case, and the timing, and degreeof accentuation given to the succeeding phases of sound, is merely a matter of proportion as between the weight of the Vcovering parts and the efficiency of the dash-pot action.

In, each instance the available vfree air pasv limiting sense. Y

sage through the opening -7` will, at least sufficiently i'oiitlie Apurposes ot thisI description and for aA proper interpretation of the following claims, control the volume of sound while the gravity pull cont-rolling yeffect of the dash-pot action will control the air pressure and consequently the tonal qualityof the sound. As many changes could be made in this construction without departing from` the scope of the invention as'detined in the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings, rvshall be interpreted as illustrative only `and not ina Having thus described my invention, what V-I claim as new and desire torsecure by Letters Patent is l. A voice device comprisingr a bellows having a head adapted to move by gravity for expelling air'from the bellows, a ,sounding device arranged to be sounded by the outgoing air and there being an opening through which the sound issues, a valve member movable Athrough said opening to interrupt the sounding of the sounding device, `and means whereby said valve member-V will pass relatively successively in opposite directions through said opening during each air expelling movement ofsaid head. f

2. A voice device comprising parts movable relative to each other to create a draught of air,` a sounding device arranged to be sounded by the passing air and there being anV outlet Vopening in one of said movable V'parts through Vwhich the sound issues, a

single valve member to control 1 said opening, and means controlling movement of the valve member independently of said movable part. whereby atseach air draught creat ing movement of the `movable part ofthe bellows said valve member will move-t0 uncover said opening and thereby permit the sounding of the first syllable of a 'word and whereby also at each air draught creating movement ofthe movable part of the bellows the part carrying said opening will move relative to the valve member to 'causefsaid .opening to be first closed by said valve inem- `ber and then uncoveredto permit the sounding of a second syllable. 3.. A voice device comprising a bellows having a head adapted toniove -by gravity i'orexpclling air from the bellows, asound ing device arranged to bey sounded bythe outgoing air, and sound interrupting means comprising al movable part cooperating'ivith means on the bellows head `to momentarily increase .the weight ofthe head and thereby nieanson the bellows head to momentarily l ldetracttrom the gravity pull of said head anditliereby alter the sound. n

" 5.` A voice device "comprising a bellows havinga head uadapted. to move by gravity for expelling air from the bellows, a sounding device arranged tofbe sounded by the outgoing air, and sound interrupting means comprising a movable partcoopei'ating with means on the bellows head to momentarily first increase the noimalaveiglit `of said head and then detract from Vthe normal gravity pullo said `head Vfor` thereby altering the sound( i Y- '6.` A voice device comprising parts movi l able relative to eachother to create a draught of air, asounding device arranged to be sounded by thepassing air andthere being an outlet lopening fromfvvhich tlicgsound issues, awsinglev valveme'mber arranged `to pass relatively in opposite directions through saidV opening to; control the passage of sound through `said opening, dash-pot` means to govern the movement of the valve member as it passes through said opening in onel direction, and means to retain the valve member relatively.'stationarywhile the part' carrying said opening moves to` cause the valve member topass relatively in the oppo-` site direction vthrough said opening.V

7. A voicedevice comprising parts` movable relative to each other to create a draught of air, a'sounding device arranged to be sounded by the'passing airv and there being an outlet opening throughwhich the sound issues, and sound interrupting means coi`nprising a valve `meinber'arranged to move' by gravity through said opening and a dashpot arranged to receive said valve member at the end of its operative movement.

8. A voice device comprising parts movable relative to each other to create a draught of air, a sounding device arranged to be sounded by the passing air and there beingy an outlet opening through which the sound issues, a valve member movable through said opening to interrupt the issuance oi' sound, and means with which said valve member cooperates to control the air pressure through said sounding device.

9. A voice device comprising parts movable relative to each other to create a draught of air, a sounding device arranged to be sounded by the passing air and there being an outlet opening through which the sound issues, and means to produce articulation 01' said sound comprising additional relatively movable parts co-operative to open and close said opening, and one ot said latter parts cooperating with means on the air draught creating part to govern the tonal quality of the sound.

l0. A voice device comprising parts movable relative to each other to create a draught of air, a sounding device arranged to be sounded by the passing air and there being an outlet opening through which the sound issues, and means to produce articulation oi said sound comprising additional relatively movable parts co-operative to open and close said opening, and one of said latterparts cooperating with means on the air draught creating part to cause variations in the tonal quality of the sound during the time while said opening is open.

ll. A voice device comprising parts movable relative to each other to create a draught of air, a sounding device arranged to be sounded by the passing air and there being an outlet opening through which the sound issues, and means to produce articulation of said sound comprising a dash-pot, and a member cooperating with said dashpot to vary the air pressure through said sounding device.

l2. A voice device comprising parts movable relative to each other to create a draught ot air, a. sounding device arranged to be sounded by the passing air and there being an outlet opening through which the sound issues, and means to produce articulation of said sound `comprising a valve member movable through said opening to interrupt the issuance et the sound, and a dashpot cooperating with said valve member and governing the duration of the period ot sound interruption.

13. A voice device comprising a bellows having a head adapted to move by gravity for expelling air from the bellows, a sounding device arranged to be sounded by the outgoing air, a casing for said parts, and

means to produce articulation of said sound tion being supported by said head independently of said means to momentarily add the weight ot said member to that ot' said head land to at other times be supported by said means free of said head.

le. A voice device comprising a bellows having a head adapted to move by gravity for expelling air from the bellows, a sounding device arranged to be sounded by the outgoing air, a casing for said parts, and means to produce articulation of said sound comprising a member at times supported .stationary with the casing and at other times supported by and movable with said head.

l5. A. voice device comprising a bellows having a head adapted to move by gravity for expelling air from the bellows, a sounding device arranged to be 'sounded by the outgoing air, a casing for said parts, and means to produce articulation of said sound comprising a member at times supported stationary with the casing and at other times supported by and movable with said head, together with a dash-pot provided in the head to receive said member.

16. ji voice device comprising parts movable relative to each other to create a draught of air, a sounding device arranged to be sounded by the passing air and there being an outlet opening through which the sound issues, and means to produce articulation ot said sound said means comprising a valve member for said opening, said valve member and the movable draught creating `part having cooperating means operable during different operations of the voice device to differently alter the tonal qualities ot the sounds produced.

17. A; voice device comprising a cylindrical casing, a sounding device, a head within said casing movable by gravity to create a draught oi' airfor operating the sounding device, said head'being annular and having a loose sliding ht within said casing, and a gashet member carried by the head comprising a broad band et flexible material surrounding the head but being normally of a size to lit closely against the cylinder walls, one annular edge portion of said band being iiXed to the annular surface of the head but the remainder of said band being not attached to the head and thus allowing air pressure between it and the head, and the head having annular portions above and below the band for engaging the cylinder walls to guide `the head. Y

ln testimonywhereof I aiiix my signature.

L. onssroun HANDY.

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